The State Treasury promotes digitalization of expenditure control

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More than 99% of state budget expenditure documents are sent electronically by the unit to the State Treasury via Online Public Services. Photo: Thuy Linh

More than 99% of expenditure documents are sent electronically

Talking about the current status of state budget expenditure control through the State Treasury in the period from 2019 to present, at a recent conference related to this issue, Mr. Tran Manh Ha, Director of the Department of Expenditure Control (State Treasury) said, the State Treasury has implemented expenditure control according to thresholds: control expenditures under contract and with a value greater than 50 million VND; For expenditures below the State Treasury threshold, only the content of expenditure is controlled, not the contract, thereby reducing the total number of expenditures by 70%, but still controlling 99% of the total value of state budget expenditures.

In addition, this agency also implements the "pay first, control later" method for multi-payment contracts. When payment reaches 80% of the contract value, it will switch to the "control first, pay later" form. Implement periodic automatic payments to regular suppliers of goods and services such as electricity, water, telecommunications, etc as authorized by the budget user.

In particular, regarding the method of sending transaction documents to the State Treasury, according to Mr. Tran Manh Ha, more than 99% of state budget expenditure documents are sent by the unit to the State Treasury electronically via Online Public Services; Interaction between the State Treasury and budget-using units is carried out mostly electronically. At the same time, there has been a connection and data connection between the budget-using unit and the information technology system of the State Treasury.

Thanks to that, the State Treasury's processing time for documents is 1-3 working days; Especially when implementing the "pay first, control later" method, there is only 1 working day left.

Implement digitization of records and data

According to the assessment of International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts, expenditure control has only stopped at the electronic level, meaning document control is mainly based on photocopies - scans of original documents from the budget-using units.

Speaking more about the difficulties of expense control, the Director of the Expenditure Control Department said that although the method of submitting transaction documents to the State Treasury in the recent period has had significant reforms, it has not yet been implemented thoroughly, there are still documents that investors must send directly to the State Treasury. Furthermore, connecting, sharing, and interoperating data related to expenditure control is still limited, so it also has impacts on the reform of the State Treasury's expenditure control process.

Emphasizing the importance of digitization, Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Deputy General Director of the State Treasury, said that digitizing the control of payment of budget expenditures through the State Treasury will create favorable conditions for budget-using units and transaction customers; sharing and connecting digital data throughout the entire budget spending process will help ensure efficiency, transparency, and openness in the management and use of the state budget. Along with that, it will help control risks, strengthen inspection, and check cases showing signs of violation.

On the State Treasury side, the goal by 2025 is that all state budget revenue and expenditure transactions through the State Treasury will be carried out electronically (except for transactions within the scope of state secrets); digital data connection in the stages of estimating, allocation, execution, accounting, auditing and finalization of the state budget; share information and data on state budget revenues and expenditures pursuant to real-time; Complete the state budget expenditure control mechanism towards risk-based control.

Therefore, in the coming time, the State Treasury will innovate the management mechanism for state budget expenditure commitments; unify focal points, and processes and digitize the control and payment of state budget expenditures through the State Treasury; Share and interoperate digital data throughout the entire process of state budget expenditure management; continue to promote the application of electronic payment methods. The State Treasury will also innovate, moving from "pre-audit" to "post-audit", associated with strengthening decentralization, assigning accountability to budget-using units and corresponding to the level of development of the internal audit function at ministries, branches, and localities, controlling risks, strengthen inspection and check cases with signs of violations.

Regarding digitization of expenditure control, according to Mr. Tran Manh Ha, the State Treasury will promote the application of information technology; digitize records, documents, input and output data; build a repository for records and digital data; Continue to deploy data interconnection with ministries, branches, and localities to receive input data to serve the control of state budget expenditures; share data on state budget expenditures between the State Treasury and ministries, branches, and localities to serve the work of planning, allocation, and implementation of plans, estimates, and final settlement of the state budget; Develop and implement a process to digitize the control and payment of state budget expenditures through the State Treasury according to a complete electronic process.